Recently, a bank error led to the eviction of a Homestead, Florida woman -- she had no knowledge that her house was being sold, and came home to meet her furniture in the street.
It wasn't until that hot Florida Wednesday night that Anna Ramirez learned of the man who bought her home. She explained to WPLG-TV that her house was never put up for sale. In fact, Ramirez was in the midst of modifying her home loan with a local Washington Mutual Bank, which mistakenly auctioned off her house. She even submitted her first payment under her new terms. You can see video of the debacle here.
Washington Mutual discovered the error long before the movers were sent to evict Ramirez. At that time, the bank tried to reverse the sale, but the Miami-Dade clerk of Court's Office failed to file the judge's order.
Ramirez was left in tears and with an empty home as she pleaded her case with local news reporters. She repeatedly stated that she did the right thing, and something this severe should have never occurred.
Currently, Ramirez is busy finding a lawyer that will handle her case because many of her belongings were damaged during the eviction process. The judge has reversed the sale, but that information was not sent to the buyer. The county court is trying to fix this issue. The clerk has promised to personally call Ramirez to apologize. Ramirez stated that she has not yet received a call.
One can only imagine how busy housing courts are during these times of increasing foreclosures and home auctions, but that leaves no excuse to allow this to happen to Ms. Ramirez. The courts need to remember that actual people are at the heart of all cases. Ramirez may be one in thousands, but it is still a personal issue when it boils down to her home.
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